


A few cheap lines

by liionne



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Oblivious Steve Rogers, Skinny Steve Rogers, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, it's a universal constant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-12
Updated: 2018-04-12
Packaged: 2019-04-22 01:46:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14298081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liionne/pseuds/liionne
Summary: “Are you a banana, because I find you appeeling", and other lines that may hint that your best friend is flirting with you.





	A few cheap lines

**Author's Note:**

> So I saw [this post](https://www.instagram.com/p/BhebB7vHnTq/?hl=en&taken-by=hilarious.ted) whilst in the line at the supermarket and my mind immediately went to a teenaged Steve and Bucky, for some reason. So here we are!

Steve is just trying to eat his lunch. He’s just trying to eat his lunch, and trying to finish this chapter of  _ To Kill A Mockinbird _ , because he was trying to catch up on the math work he missed the week before when he was ill and that put him behind on his English Lit, too. 

With his sandwich tossed aside he reaches for the banana in his bag; his ma tries to load as much fruit on him as she could, and Steve wasn’t going to complain. He peels it, elbow keeping his page whilst Natasha regales the rest of the group with a story about “Yelena from ballet class”, and then he takes a bit.

It takes approximately two seconds for him to feel eyes on him, attempting to bore a hole right through him. He looks up, and Bucky’s gaze flickers away, back to Natasha. Steve frowns, but he thinks nothing of it, dropping his eyes to the page again.

But then again, as he takes another bite, those eyes on him. Steve looks up, and once again Bucky is looking at him, but this time he doesn’t look away. Almost defiantly, Steve takes another bite of the banana, and suddenly Bucky gives a wicked grin, leaning across the table. In a stage-whisper, he says,  “Are you a banana, Steve, because I find you ap _ peel _ ing.”

“Oh my  _ god _ ,” Sam groans, at the exact same time as Natasha rolls her eyes and  _ tsk _ s. Steve kicks him under the table, but there’s a smile curving his lips as Bucky traps Steve’s ankle with his own, laughing all the while.

“You’re not funny.” Steve accuses, taking the last bite of his banana and setting the peel aside.

“I’m hilarious, you’re all just mad you didn’t think of it.” Bucky retorts. Steve sticks his tongue out at him and goes back to the book, but he’s still smiling just a bit.

~*~

Steve’s ma is at work again, on yet another double shift - he doesn’t mind having to cook his own dinner, but he kind of wishes she was there to greet him after school, kiss the top of his head and ask him how his day was. He’s sixteen, not six, but still. It would be nice once in a while.

But today he has Bucky in tow (admittedly, he has Bucky in tow most days, because ever since they were 5 years old they’ve gone absolutely everywhere together), and the ingredients to make lasagna spread out on the counter, and so he decides it’s not so bad.

They stand shoulder to shoulder, Bucky’s phone playing one of the 80 different playlists he has on spotify, loud enough for the two of them to sing along. Steve rolls out the dough as Bucky grates the cheese to go on top and he gives that wicked grin again, bumping Steve’s shoulder with his own. 

“This may be cheesy, but I think you’re  _ grate _ .” He says, and then he beams again.

Steve groans, shoving Bucky back, enough to send him stumbling a few steps. Bucky laughs loud, turning to look at Steve. “C’mon, that one was good.”   


“It was awful and you know it.” Steve shakes his head, looking up at Bucky.

“Oh yeah? ‘n what do you know, huh? You’ve got flour on you.” Bucky clucks his tongue, reaching out to wipe the flour from Steve’s cheekbone.

Steve ducks his head to hide his blush, going back to the dough. When he looks up again Bucky has started chopping tomatoes, but he’s blushing a little bit too. For some reason, it makes Steve feel better.

~*~

The library is deadly silent, which means Steve and Bucky have been passing notes for the past half an hour, and kicking each other under the table in the interim. They’re both trying to do a little research and get a head start on their history papers, but Steve can’t get any work done, not with Bucky nudging his foot up Steve’s calf.

See, it’s like this - they’ve known each other forever. They’ve been best friends forever. And Steve has been in love with Bucky… well, forever. Pretty much. He’s accepted it as a part of life. A fact. The sky is blue, grass is green, and Steve is in love with Bucky.

But Bucky isn’t in love with him, and Steve doesn’t really blame him. He’s sick every other week, he gets in fights every  _ day _ ; he won’t be Bucky’s type. Skinny and scrawny with a too-big mouth, that’s not anyone’s type. He’s not about to go making assumptions - he doesn’t know if Bucky is gay, straight, bi or what, but it doesn’t matter, because he doesn’t like Steve. Not in that way.

And that line of thought is exactly what is distracting him from his work, and why he doesn’t notice the note that Bucky’s slipped his way until he receives a sharp kick to the shin.

“Ow!” He hisses; everyone in a 5-metre radius turns to look at him, and he blushes right dow to his chest.

Bucky nods to the note, folded up into a tiny square. Steve’s eyes narrow, nimble fingers unfolding the note and his eyes shifting down to the paper. Bucky’s handwriting is complete spider scrawl, but he’s been reading it for eleven years so he knows it well enough. 

_ Is your name Google? _ It reads. Steve’s eyes narrow, just as another piece of paper flicks off his forehead, landing on the table in front of him. 

_ Cause you’re everything I’ve been looking for. _

Steve goes to snort, but then remembers that he’s already pissed every other student off already, so instead he kicks Bucky under the table, blushing even deeper than before.  _ Where _ these lines are coming from Steve has no idea; part of him wants them to stop, because he knows Bucky isn’t interested, but another part of him hopes they never end. Cheesy pick up lines or not, it’s kind of nice.

~*~

Someone started a fire in a trashcan.

Steve suspects Loki, the Norwegian exchange student, mostly because he looks like the type to be a pyromaniac. He probably looks like the type to want attention, too, and who could blame him - his ‘twin’ brother is tall and blond, effortlessly fun and so extroverted it hurts. Steve would set a trashcan on fire too, if he had to compete with that.

But it means that they end up getting evacuated, stood in their home room groups in the snow. Bucky shrugged out of his coat before they even got outside, wrapping it around Steve’s shoulders, and Steve would complain but he thinks he might be about to  _ freeze to death _ , so he’s keeping his mouth shut.

When Principal Ross comes out to tell them that it’s safe to come back inside, and that the fire has been extinguished, Steve breathes a soft sigh of a relief. When he looks at Bucky, expecting him to have turned into an ice cube, he finds him grinning, arms folded across his chest to show off the lean muscles of his arms.

“The fire may be out, Stevie, but you’re still smokin’.” He says, as they begin shuffling back inside.

Steve shivers; he’s too cold to blush. “Shut up and get outta my way, I’m freezing my butt off out here.” He complains, slipping past Bucky and into the warm.

If he thinks about it after school, staring at his ceiling in the pitch black, he doesn’t tell anybody.

~*~

Bucky asks if he can sleep at Steve’s place Friday night, and Steve rolls his eyes. He doesn’t know why Bucky even bothers asking. He doesn’t even tell his ma, and Sarah isn’t surprised when Bucky comes in at 6, having gone home to get some things and say goodbye to his own mother before heading to Steve’s.

“Oh, James - are you spending the night?”

“If you don’t mind having me, Sarah,” He says, all easy charm; Steve doesn’t know how he does it. “Becca’s having a sleepover and I dunno if I’ll be able to sleep through the giggling.”

Sarah smiles warmly, ruffling Bucky’s hair as he passes. “Of course I don’t mind. Steak pie and colcannon for dinner - that sound alright? If you two want to get a pizza I won’t be too hurt.”

“Sounds great.” Bucky smiles. He’s been to Steve’s often enough in the past decade that he knows all of Sarah’s odd irish dishes, handed down to her from her grandmother. He never turns his nose up at any of it, much to Sarah’s delight.

There’s an air bed, but they never bother with it; Steve’s twin bed has gotten a hell of a lot smaller as Bucky’s grown (and Steve… hasn’t, for the most part), but they still squeeze in together, a tangle of limbs. 

They talk like that, voices hushed, because Sarah’s in bed and there’s no point in talking loud anyway, not when they’re that close. Close enough that Steve can feel Bucky’s breath on his face, his chest rising and falling, his heart, beating just beneath his chest. 

“Y’know, I’m not a photographer but i can picture me and you together.” Bucky says, teeth flashing bright white in the dark as he grins, but Steve frowns, brows knitting together.

“Wha’s that supposed to mean?” He asks, voice hushed. “What’s with the cheesy lines, Buck. If you’re trying them out on me before you use ‘em on someone else I’m gonna be mad.” 

Bucky shakes his head a little, his too-long hair falling into his eyes. “I’m not going to use them on anyone else, Steve. At least, I don’t wanna.”

“What?” Steve asks, his brows still drawn, lips turned down into a frown.

But not for long - Bucky shifts ever so slightly across the space between them and presses his lips to Steve’s in a gentle kiss. Steve gasps softly, and Bucky takes advantage of his parted lips to swipe his tongue over Steve’s, shifting closer still. Steve reaches for him, hand sliding over the sheets until he can hold onto Bucky’s waist, humming softly against his lips.

“Can I take you for a coffee, Stevie? ‘Cause I like you a  _ latte _ .” Bucky says, lips brushing Steve’s as he whispers to him.

Steve can’t help it; he breaks into fits of giggles, laughing against Bucky’s mouth, grinning at the stupidity of it all. “You’re an idiot.” He says. “If I hear one more stupid line outta your mouth--”

Bucky grins, his hands on Steve’s hips, holding him tightly. “Are you a cold, cause I woud love to catch you sometime--” 

Steve cuts him off, presses his lips to Bucky’s once more to shut him up. It’s difficult, try to kiss and to laugh, but somehow they manage it. Steve falls asleep, happier than he’s ever been.

~*~

In the morning they’re up before Sarah, which isn’t surprising - she believes in lie-ins, when she has nowhere to be.

Bucky offers to make breakfast, because if Steve were to cook they’d have to call the fire department, and as he whisks some milk and eggs together, he grins, “ _ Omelet _ you into a secret - you are  _ eggs _ actley what I need.” 

Steve groans, tossing an orange at Bucky from the fruit bowl on the table. Bucky turns around, abandoning the eggs in favour of kissing him, cradling Steve’s face in both hands and grinning against his lips. They only break apart when they hear the creak of the floorboards under Sarah’s feet, and even then Bucky doesn’t go far, still bent over, one hand still curled around Steve’s jaw.

“Don’t let me disturb you.” Sarah says, eyebrows arched as she gets herself a cup of coffee. “I’m going back to bed.”

The two of them watch her as she shuffles back along the corridor, pausing outside of her bedroom door. “And I’ll have some cheese with my omelet, too,” She says, before disappearing through the doorway.

Bucky grins, looking at Steve and giving him one last, lingering kiss. “Gotta give the lady what she wants.” He says as he turns away.   
  
Steve would complain, but as long as Bucky’s got his back to him, Steve gets to look at his ass - and he  _ really _ doesn’t have a problem with that.

**Author's Note:**

> Admittedly, I didn't even read this back (not in depth, anyway), so if there are any problems please do let me know!!
> 
> Comments, questions, prompts etc are more than welcome here or at my tumblr. Thanks for reading!


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